The proposed study will focus on those people who at one point file for divorce but then reconcile with their spouses. While here is concern about he continually increasing divorce rate, the proportion of the population which divorces is probably an underestimate of the extent of marital instability in the United States at any one time. It is estimated that half of American couples separate at some point in their married lives. How do those who separate differ from those who do not? What demographic and attritudinal characteristics distinguish those who separate, reconcile and remain reconciled from those who go on to obtain divorces at a later date? To address these little-studied issues, interview data will be gathered from three groups of black and white suburban Cleveland respondents: (1) a sampl of men and women who filed for divorce and reconciled in 1975-75 in order to examine the longer term cnsequences of reconciliation for health and role functioning; (2) a sample of men and women who filed for divorce and reconciled in 1977-78 to exploe the process they went through in deciding to reconcile; and (3) a random sample of the Cleveland area adult population (obtained through use of the Cleveland Area Survey) to determine how many individuals are currently separated from their spouses or have peviously separated from them (with or without filing for divorce). Coupled with data gathered in an earlier longitudinal survey (5 R01-MH-22575) which explored health and role functioning of suburban Cleveland divorcing and intact family respondents, it will be possible to examine the whole process of marital separation, reconciliation and divorce.